Beirut is an American band that was originally the solo musical project of Zach Condon. Beirut's music combines elements of indie rock and world music. The band's first performance with the full brass section was in New York, in May 2006, in support of their debut album Gulag Orkestar, though they performed their first show with Condon, Petree, and Collins at the College of Santa Fe earlier that year.

Neutral Milk Hotel was an American band formed in Ruston, Louisiana, by musician Jeff Mangum. They were active from 1989 to 1998, and then from 2013 to 2015. The band's music featured a deliberately low-quality sound, influenced by indie rock and psychedelic folk. Mangum wrote surreal and opaque lyrics that covered a wide range of topics, including love, spirituality, nostalgia, sex, and loneliness. He and the other band members played a variety of instruments, including non-traditional instruments like the singing saw and uilleann pipes.